Electric-circuit-sealing plug.



A..S. HARRINGTON.

ELECTRIC CIRCUIT SEALING PLUG.

APPLICATION FILED RUG-"29'; 1914i Patented Sept. 1916.

T JUN? INVENTOR. 17e- Z072 4MB ATTORNEY 1441 Harr WITNESSES:

smwbm C f @ZWM QL/ ARTHUR S. HARRINGTON, OF- STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA. 1

ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT-SEALING PLUG.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed August 29, 1914. Serial No. 859,192.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR S. HARRING- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stockton, in the county of San Joaquin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric- Circuit sealing Plugs; and I do declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in electrical equipment and particularly relates to a dummy plug adapted to replace fuses in ordinary wiring cut outs and fuse blocks, such plugs being capable of being sea-led or locked in place, thus opening the circuit and sealing it open in such a manner as to discourage any one from tampering with the same when not in use owing to the likelihood of detection.

A further object of the invention is to produce a plug of the kind set forth above which can both be used to seal the circuit open in the manner defined and at the same time be so disposed as to form a short circuit if any attempt is made to steal the current from the regular wiring by means of a jumper around the meter or plug, or both, my improved short circuit being designed to blow the nearest protecting fuse under these circumstances, thus giving notice of the attempted steal. of the current and also preventing such steal.

A still further object of the invention is to produce a simple-and inexpensive device of universal application, and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes for which it is designed.

These objects, I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of the parts as will fully appear by aperusal of the following specification and claims.

On the drawings, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a top elevation of my improved sealing plug. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken out, and in section. Fig. 3 is a detached view partly in section of that portion of the lug which, in the four herein illustrated, 15 made of conducting material. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a vfusible switch block showing a pair of my improved plugs sealed in position therein.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the plug proper is composed primarily of a nonconducting body lhaving an outwardly extending annular top 2 provided with a plurality of radially disposed holes or openings 3 in the side thereof. The base of the annular top 2 is provided with a plurality of elongated slots +1 opening from the outside to the inside of the top 2 in substantial alinement with the plane of alternate holes 3.

Disposed around the body 1 is a conductive member 5 formed into a standard thread of that type commonly used on the'standard Edison threaded base for electrical fixtures. The lower portion of the member 1 has an incision, as at G, and the lower end of this member 5 is bent into this incision 6 to aid in fixing the said portion 5 stationary upon the body 1, leaving a projecting nonconductive point 1. The member 5 is provided with a plurality of upwardly projecting finger members 7, each projecting through one of the slots 4 and each having an orifice 8 adapted to register with alternate ones of the holes 3 and be secured in that position by means of hollow conductive rivets 9 riveted to the member 7 on one end and to the outside of the receptacle 2 at the other to secure the same together.

The form of plug above described is the preferred form in which one side only of the plug is conductive. namely, the threaded portion, the point, body and top being non conductive. This form would be .the most commonly used type to protect small wiring installations which usually have the load or house side of the switch block 10 connected to the shell of the fuse receptacle.- It is well tonote at this time however, that where the reverse installation is used, the construction of the plug would be exactly the reverse to that here described, namely,

-the point would have its face a conductive member arranged in conductive connection with the holes in the top, while the body and threaded portion would be nonconductive,

the scheme of the invention however being the same in both installations as will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I will now describe the use of my impro ved sealing plug in connection with the in a at on of the type s o n n F g, e

then screwed into each receptacle by means of the threaded portion 5. Both plugs are then sealed together and in position by means of an ordinary meter seal or other desiredseal 12 which is disposed through holes 3 of adjacent plugs. Thus it will be seen that the sealing plugs cannot -be withdrawn without first breaking the seal to unscrew them and since the type of plug here shown prevents any completion or continuity of the circuit by reason of the nonconductive points 1, the use of this plug will effectively open the circuit and hold it open until the sea-ling plugs are removed by one authorized so to do. When the seal 12 is placed through the holes 3 which have no connection with the conductive members 7, this will merely lock the seals in place for the purposes above noted but does not put a short on the line. When however, a short is to be made, the seal will be placed through the holes 3 which are connected with the members 7 and 9 and the seal will also be wrapped around the switch knob 13 or otherwise connected in a desirable manner to the switch (see dotted lines in Fig. 4) to prevent the opening of the switch. When this is done, there will be a conductive connection between the two plugs and hence if any one should attempt to steal current from the circuit by means of a jumper from the wires on the line side of the meter to those on the load side, a short pircuit would result through the seal 12 ing quick service to the and would blow the nearest protecting fuse, thus cutting off the attempted steal of the current and also giving notice of the same.

My improved sealing plugs fit and may be used in any out out or .fuse block of one, two or three wire types, thus protecting all or a part of an installation, as may be desired.

Among the many advantages to be gained by the use of my improved sealing plug. it will be well to note the following, namely: By the use of my sealing plugs, central station companies may leave meters or other devices, if used, in place and circuits live. To render service to tenant, it merely becomes necessary to remove the sealing plugs and replace the fuse plugs, thus saving labor and other expense and at the same time givconsumer. The sealing plugs may remain on circuits even though meters are removed, or on fiat rate circuits using no meters, thus avoiding the necessity of cutting out service at the pole or man hole or box, thus effecting economies, as above. In apartment houses, the landlord may use sealing plugs to protect his own circuits and render quick service to tenants.

Sealing plugs when used by central station companies in competitive territory are an advantage to the company first installing them as a competing company cannot render services without installing new fuse blocks or forcibly removing sealing plugs by breaking the seals. Warning againsttheft and penalty prescribed for the same or advertisement of central station services or of other firms, or all, may appear on a card and be placed on sealing wire and thus give special tools or materials are required to install my improved sealing plugs. Also no skilled labor is required or fire hazard added.

From the foregoing description it will readily be seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfils the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice, such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is z- 1. The combination with an electric circuit having fuse receptacles, such receptacles having conductive members insulated with respect to each other, of plugs for said receptacles, each plug having a non-conductive portion arranged to be interposed between said conductive members to hold the circuit open, each plug also havir: a conductive member to contact with o: of the conductive members in the receptacle, and a conductive sealing member joining the plugs and being in conductive relation with the conductive members thereof.

2. A device of the character described comprising a plug, consisting of a non-conducting body disposed around which is a threaded conducting body, said non-eonducting body terminating in. a noirconducting point and having an annular top, the

adjacent a number of said openings, said finger members being provided with open-' sides, a conducting threaded member mounted on said body and having finger members projecting into said annular top to points adjacent a number of said openings, said finger members being provided with openings adapted to register with said last named openings, and hollow rivets projecting through said last named holes and being riveted to said finger members and to the outside of said annular top, as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR S. HARRINGTON.

Witnesses:

STEPHEN N. BLnwn'rr, FLOYD M. BLANCHARD.

00p! of this patent my be obtained (or Ave cents each, by addreuing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

